Author Archives: Gary Sanderson

A South Deerfield, Mass., native, Gary was the longtime sports editor at the Greenfield Recorder, a daily newspaper in Greenfield, Mass., where he retired in June 2018, having worked parts of five decades over 39 years. A senior-active, nearly 40-year member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America, his Thursday column "On The Trail" ran for nearly 40 years, ostensibly focusing on fish and wildlife, conservation and issues pertaining to them in the Connecticut Valley, where his roots reach deep into its oldest burial grounds. He and wife Joanne live in a historic Greenfield Meadows tavern today known as Old Tavern Farm, which has a rich history dating back to the mid-18th century. The home, which became a National-Register-of-Historic-Places building on his watch, served as a small, seasonal bed and breakfast from 1999-2015. Gary's other interests include history, anthropology, archaeology, literature, genealogy, Americana, country auctions, and early-American architecture and landscapes, as well as hunting, fishing and especially reading. His primary focus is the Pioneer Valley, its people, places and critters.

Simple Diversions

The foliage is aflame, a chill’s in the air and woodstoves are belching smoke as white pines shed their long needles in blustery winds, depositing roadside mounds for mulch gatherers buttoning down their blueberry patches for winter. Yes, hunting season is upon us. Time to get my shotgun ready. Actually, I’ve been at the chore since midday Saturday, when I […]

Whispers and Roars

Although I stopped fishing many years ago, primarily because my schedule doesn’t permit it, I have not lost my love for running water — brooks and streams and rivers that in many ways symbolize life’s ebbs and flows and eddies, those random midstream pockets formed by natural obstacles disrupting the current and creating a calm, swirling […]

The Greatest Gift

I have for days been watching small, bright-yellow, black-walnut leaves falling to the neighbor’s lawn across the street as orange-tinged maple leaves waltz like airborne breast feathers to my backyard. Early? Yes. At least two weeks ahead of  last fall, which I remember well. Premature crunchy leaves underfoot should come as no surprise. Hasn’t everything […]

Woodland Waltz

My fourth cord of wood was piled high in the shed, air cool, morning sun bright … off to my favorite Whately stomping grounds. Eli Terry, rhythmic heartbeat ticking from his dining-room shelf, read 11 a.m. My only worry was bear season. I didn’t want to get me or my dogs shot. But who’s going […]

Not A Cougar

The call came shortly before1 p.m. Wednesday, me searching for something to top this space. It was from Deerfield, a man with whom I share many interests, the salient one being local history. But this was not a history call; he was calling about a handsome wildcat that’s been spotted many times this summer around Deerfield’s […]

Pantheist Seeds

September’s here. The full August moon is waning; never really appeared till after the fact, when low gray skies opened for a splendid, cool, clear, sunny weekend, great weather for opening the barn and letting warm, dry winds chase out lingering dampness. The weekend was special for another reason. Grandson Jordie paid a solo visit, […]

Bruin’s Nest

I finally got the whole story from the horse’s mouth — a bear tale that comes at an opportune time, bear season less than two weeks away. I would probably still be in the dark had not a green military helicopter disturbed my peaceful Upper Meadows neighborhood last week. Word has it that a State […]

Summer’s Slipping Away

Two large Japanese maples stand just inside the southern point of my property, providing three-season privacy from oncoming traffic headed north to the Colrain/Green River roads fork. These ornamental trees bud in pastel red and grow brilliant scarlet leaves that fade to a soft, olive-green before bursting into their brightest fall cardinal-red. They then shed […]

News Snooze

Dog daze and cabin fever are afflictions on opposite sides of the calendar that infect a man like me. So here I sit suffering from the former, sweating profusely, thirsty, wellspring of hunting and fishing news dried up, little to write about before the first shots of autumn are fired. Nonetheless, I can usually dig […]

Common Ground

Sporting the white, cotton, “Old Hawley Common” T-shirt with red letters that I bought Sunday at the common’s unveiling—hint of bear scent wafting through cool, clear mountain air—inspired inquiries from some folks I bumped into this week in my travels. “Oh, you went to that?” was a question by some who had seen the event […]

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